Echoes Across Time
by Username1576
Summary: Clara was the girl he dated before the war, the one Steve was certain would be the one he married. Then the war came, and she died during the Blitz, and Steve was certain he had lost his chance. Now that he's in the future, he says goodbye to Clara one last time, but a certain time traveler hears him.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Doctor Who or Captain America. Anything familiar belongs to their respective creators.**

 _He was standing at the altar, Bucky at his side as the best man and it was one of the happiest moments of his life. When the music started, Steve turned to the side to catch a glimpse of his beautiful bride-to-be. She was stunning, dressed in all white, with a smile big enough to rival Steve's own. The veil was over her face, covering her in intricate flower designs. She said it was her late mother's gown. Steve's breath was stolen straight from his mouth, and all he could think about was just how lucky he was to be here right now. Then she was at his side, and they were saying "I do" and then it was his turn to lift the veil and seal their marriage with a kiss, but when he lifted the clothe, he was greeted with a broken and bloody face. She was crying, yelling at Steve about how he was too late and that she was dying, why didn't he save her?_

"STEVE!" someone yelled. Steve shot up with a grunt, already ready to jump into a fighting stance. The person who woke him was to Steve's left, gently removing a hand from Steve's left shoulder. "You were having another nightmare, Cap, how do you feel?"

Steve finally looked up to see who had awaken him and was unsurprised to see that it was Sam Wilson. He had been running around the entire damn world with Sam for the past two months looking for Bucky after SHIELD collapsed. They were both worn out and edging on completely hopeless as they continued to run through countless dead-ends every step of the way. Steve knew they both needed a break from this hunt. His patience was running thin and he knew under Sam's incredible persistence to help Steve, the other man was also pushing his limits.

Sam was still looking at Steve in concern, and Steve belatedly realized Sam was waiting for an answer. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Just lack of sleep catching up on me," Steve replied. He learned early on in their crazy mission that lying to Sam wouldn't help anyone, especially himself. Sam just had a way of knowing exactly what was going on, and was always ready to step in with a solution of some sort. If it wasn't for Sam, Steve knew he would most likely be dead in a gutter behind a random Hydra base. The least he could do was spare Sam the frustration of being lied to when he was already so stressed.

"Want to talk about it?" Sam offered.

He's offered several times, but Steve had only accepted twice. Both times were things that bothered him, but were still common knowledge, things he wasn't really required to explain beyond the PTSD. Steve couldn't bring himself to talk about this one, no matter how long ago the events were. It had been a closely held secret of his, one he wasn't sure he wanted to be revealed. So instead of accepting, Stev just said, "No, I'm fine. I think I just need to run this one off."

Then he was gone, moving outside to gather himself.

The thing is, Steve hasn't had a dream about /her/ in a long time. She was in his past now, something untouchable, never to be seen or heard from again. She's been dead for a century, but still, his traitorous mind betrayed him. Before Steve could really acknowledge his actions, he was standing in front of a graveyard. He and Sam were in Britain now, chasing down a possible Winter Soldier holding site. Steve knew she would be here, but has stupidly assumed that he could handle that knowledge without being reminded of her again. He had apparently remembered how to get to the graveyard, and was there now. Perfect.

Squaring his shoulders, Steve walked in. He was going to have to face this again sometime, no use trying to get around it now that he was already here. Steve made his way over cautiously, suddenly aware of how not ready he was to see her grave. It's been seventy years since he's seen it last, after all, but he was there now, reading the cement slab proclaiming this to be the final resting place of one Clara Oswin Oswald. Steve swallowed, nervous to be here and still overcome by his grief. He found their unexpected separation still filled him with rage and sorrow. Good, he thought, she deserves that. They had been young and in love, despite Steve's previous inability to be a potential love interest, what with his scrawniness and everything else. Still, they maintained an one-of-a-kind relationship that often left Steve breathless with how lucky he was to have it. She believed in him and cared for him the same as Bucky and his mother, watching out for Steve, but never being condescending about it. She disproved of his back alley skirmishes, but understood his reasons and let him get away with it sometimes. In return, Steve tried to be the type of guy she could be proud of calling hers, and could show off to her family and friends. He worked hard to get a decent job, saved money to take her out and get her gifts, and at least tried to stay clean and presentable for her. Steve never felt like he did enough for her, but she had always insisted that he was exactly what she wanted. Then the war came, and she was whisked off to Britain, and he was with Erskine and became Captain America. After the USO shows started, he tried his best to keep in contact with her, sending postcards, drawings, and random souvenirs to her. Clara had always talked about how she wanted to travel abroad, Steve tried to help her do it vicariously, talking about the views and what he thought was nice about various states. She wrote about being back in Britain, and thinking that it wasn't home yet, not without him. She also made him promise to return back to her when everything was over, so that they could build a life together. It was because of those words that Steve bought a ring while he was in DC before they went overseas.

Steve had been ecstatic to arrive in London, while the promise to see Clara again was still sparkling brightly in front of him. He had talked with Clara beforehand, and they had made plans for dinner. Steve had shown up to her pick her up, suddenly anxious. This would be the first time Clara really saw Steve's new appearance, and he wondered if she would like it. The Serum had brought on major changes, and though Clara probably saw the pictures, he couldn't help the feeling that it would be vastly different if she saw it in person. Then, Clara opened the door, and she was smiling while she gave Steve a tight hug and exclaimed how much she missed him. Steve had hugged her back just as tightly, incredibly relieved to find that the only thing to change between them was where Clara put her arms.

Then they went out for dinner, at a nice restaurant in the city, went for a walk where Steve proposed to her by the docks, and she shouted her yes at him right before kissing him so thoroughly, Steve saw stars. Then everything went to hell because this was Steve. He rescued the 107th and therefore Bucky, did his duty for his country, and then he got a letter saying Clara died trying to protect a group of kids stupid (or idiotically resourceful) enough to run out during the Blitz. Two days later, Bucky fell from a train.

In all honestly, Steve really didn't need to crash that plane. There were multiple safe ways for him to land it safely, one of which was letting Agent Carter give him a safe landing site. The thing that actually stopped him was the intense feelings of repulsion he had towards trying to move on after the war was over. He had family waiting for him, and Steve figured it was high time he came back to them, but then he awoke again, and it was the 21st century. He had failed, but he wasn't going to let anyone know about his true intent. Thankfully, no one else had even thought to consider Steve's true thoughts behind the crash and his motives went on unquestioned. He tried to move on, allowing himself to occasionally grieve. Steve had done his best to keep Clara separate from Captain America when he first started touring, preferring to keep her safe and out of the public's curious eyes, which was convenient at the time, but hardly helped him now when he was grieving a fiancé absolutely no one else knew existed.

Steve rested a hand on Clara's gravestone, fighting back tears as he gripped their engagement rings he usually kept close to him. He allowed himself to get submerged in fond memories. Then after a moment, he sat down in front of the grave, and though he felt a little silly, talked to Clara like he so often used to. "Clara...I'm so sorry things ended the way they did. I know you had such grand plans for our future, I did too. I would've been able to get a good job, we could live in London and I would introduce you to the Commando's, you could go get that teaching job you always wanted. We would have a small family. I don't know if the serum would affect them, but if it did, they would be such healthy babies, we wouldn't need to worry about them as much. They would get your personality, nurturing and willing to help. When they're old enough, we could go travelling. I've seen so many places now, and they're all so beautiful. So many amazing sights, Clara, the world's so big, and we would see everything we could. We'd grow old together. You'd still be absolutely gorgeous, I'm sure. I would be so good to you, Clara, make sure you got the life you deserved because you were so amazing to me before I got the serum, and I just love you so much. You were ripped away from me so quickly, it's a bit of a blessing and a curse. I just wish we had the opportunity to marry first.

"I think you would like this time. People have progressed so much and those trivial things you used to complain about are almost obsolete. And the technology, gosh Clara, it's like you almost knew this whole time. Cellphones that can make a call anywhere and you only have to touch the screen, hospital machines that can see inside your body and identify the danger before it's too late, the prosthesis are so real looking, and I no longer have to surf through a radio to find music. It's all so wonderful and new, but I wish I could share with you. I miss you, Clara, more than you will ever know. I know I haven't visited you since the war...I just haven't been able to bring myself to acknowledge it once more. No one knows about us, about the relationship we had, just like I promised, so technically no one knows I'm mourning you either, but I can live with that. You've always been so strong, now I'm just following. I love you, don't forget it."

Steve stopped his speech for a moment, letting his emotions overcome him for the time being. He still kept his hand on the grave, tracing the letters carved in the stone. He took a moment to compose himself before reaching around his neck and pulling off his old dog tags. Standing up, he lay them down on the grave. "These are my tags, back in 1940. I figure you should have them, that Steve Rogers died with you during the Blitz, and he's still completely yours. Goodbye, Clara, I hope to visit you again soon."

With that Steve turned about face, and solemnly walked out of the graveyard. He never noticed the man standing a few feet away from Clara's grave who was now wringing his hands and frowning distastefully. He was dressed in tweed and bow tie, floppy brown hair hanging in front of his eyes as he contemplated. The man was on a mission to figure out Clara Oswald, the impossible girl who kept living again. The Doctor stared at the grave in contemplation for a few minutes longer before walking up to it, picking up the dog tags and putting them away, then went off to chase down the soldier as well.

 _Note: Not sure if I'm happy with this but the idea wouldn't leave me. I'll post the next chapter soon, any ideas will be considered. I'll probably add people meeting the couple. Thank you for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't think I still need to put one up, but just in case: I do not own Doctor Who or Captain America, nor do I own their respective plots. They belong to the original creators.**

Chapter 2

Clara Oswald was truly something remarkable, the Doctor mused. They were standing in Trenzalore, his final resting place, looking up at the giant TARDIS that would be his grave. He stared at it contemplatively, he finally knew her secret. How she kept popping up everywhere in his life. "My life isn't the only thing she's changed," he also considered. He reached into his pocket and fiddled with the dog tags he felt inside, the ones that belonged to Captain America. Frowning again, he turned his head to glance over at Clara, to his right. She was massaging her head tiredly, no doubt a side effect of falling into his time stream. Should he tell her? The Captain had certainly been very distraught over her that morning at the grave, they had apparently been in love after all. The Doctor wondered at that as well, why would she find love in one life, and not in any of her others? In the second life he found her, the one with the snowmen, the man she had worked for was smitten, he even told her, and Clara had done nothing about it. Granted, she had died soon after his proclamation, but she hadn't shown any interest.

Maybe it was just because Steve Rogers, the man certainly held an appeal to women everywhere. If he asked her about the Captain, what would she say? He thought about asking her now. Clara certainly proved that she wanted to maintain a life apart from the adventures, but then she would move on from him, no doubt. Finding love meant settling down, or hiding him. The Doctor had a feeling she would try to hide this life from whatever person she found worthy of a relationship, and he knew how badly that could end. He's taken on couples before, he isn't sure if he's ready for another one. The Doctor stares and contemplates for a moment longer before coming to a decision. Something's coming, he can feel it, he might need all the help he can get.

"Clara, do you remember anything about living in the 1940's?"

* * *

In all honesty, Steve is incredibly tired. He and Sam have been alternating between their manhunt for Bucky, Steve leaving for Avengers' business, Sam continuing the hunt alone or working odd jobs to get more money for the hunt. They've been at it for a year now, though it feels much longer. They've run into Bucky a handful of times, but he's still on the fritz so the trail gets more and more cold the longer their search goes on. At the moment, Steve was trying to get more leads on Bucky, but Natasha cornered him, Sam in tow, and is now forcing them to sit down and take a break. Steve needs it, he knows he does, but he still resents Natasha for forcing him.

"Steve, please, we both need this," Sam pleads with him. He's watching Steve glare at the door from the bed in the room Nat's forced them into. Steve sighs, but stops glaring and moves to the couch opposite the bed and lays down. Sam smiles slightly at that.

"I'm not gonna bite you, y'know?" Sam teases, "sleep on the bed, it's more comfy."

Steve looks over at Sam whose grinning and patting the spot next to him on the bed. Steve allows himself a small smile. Sometime during their search, they found that they both slept a little better if they stayed close together on a single bed. It felt familiar, being a little cramped, and knowing someone else was there and had your back should trouble arise. Steve relented and moved over to the bed. He really was tired, and he knew he could trust Sam. They both got into the bed and moved around some until they were both comfortable and fell asleep quickly.

Sometime later, Steve was awoken by a knocking on the door. He was on his feet in an instant, disentangling himself from the bed sheets as he went. Sam was up next to him a moment later, body moving to a defensive position. At Sam's nod, he and Steve moved towards the door and Steve opened it warily. On the other side was a man in tweed and a bow tie, a happy grin on his face.

"Hi, I'm The Doctor!" the man greeted. Steve was instantly on alert. Body shifting protectively.

"What do you want?" Steve questioned, glancing over the man's shoulder to see a blue police box standing innocently in the hallway. He froze when he saw familiar long brown hair poking out of door to the box, where criminals were usually stored. The hair moved as the person it belonged to moved their head to the side, and Steve was suddenly staring into wide eyes he had missed so much. The woman's- Clara's- eyes widened in surprise and Steve felt his grip on the door loosen in surprise. He dropped his stance immediately, pushing aside the man at the door who had been babbling on about something. Sam's eyes were on him, Steve knew, but he didn't care. He marched up to the box where Clara stood (oh gosh he never thought he'd see her again) and stopped right in front of her.

"Clara?" Steve asked hesitantly, wanting to reach out and touch her, but unsure if she would let him.

Clara nodded at him, smiling and clutching the necklace she was wearing. With a start, Steve realized they were his dog tags. He stared at it with a bit of wonder for a moment before giving her a huge grin and wrapping his arms around her. Clara hugged him back, burying her face in the side of his neck.

"How?" Steve asked her. His voice sounded hoarse, and Steve realized he was sobbing into Clara's hair. He found that he didn't care, he was too happy to see her.

"It's a bit of a long story," Clara whispered back. Steve held her a little tighter, happy to hear her voice again.

"Oh god, I missed you," he told her. Clara looked up from his shoulder long enough to grin at him, and see his returning smile before burying her face once again.

Steve isn't sure how long they stood there together, clutching at each other, before someone pointedly cleared his or her throat, but it really wasn't long enough for him. Steve looked up to see the Doctor guy giving the two of them a somewhat sad, but mostly happy smile, Sam shooting Steve a confused look, and the throat-clearer giving them an amused look.

"Sorry to interrupt," Natasha said in her usual dry tone, though a hint of amusement could be heard. "I just need to borrow Captain America for a moment."

Steve frowned at Natasha, hands still around Clara and hugging her. "Alone," Natasha added, giving Steve the pointed look that meant Avengers stuff.

Steve sighed and finally released Clara and turned to follow Natasha. Not before telling Clara he would be back soon and kissing her cheek, though. Then he was whisked away by Nat and led to the Avengers conference room. Steve was greeted by the sight of a stoic Fury and a woman staring from the giant screen that took up most of the space on the front wall of the room courtesy of Stark. The rest of the room was a large conference table and rows of chairs on either side. Steve decided to stay standing as he faced the screen.

"Director. Ma'am," Steve greeted, nodding his head in their direction. He had slipped into parade rest, feet shoulder-length apart and hands at his side, balled into fists.

"Captain," Fury responded. He sent Natasha a look, and Natasha turned to Steve. She had a sympathetic face on as she regarded Steve that he did not find comforting at all. "Steve," she said surprisingly gentle, "whoever that man and woman in the hall claimed to be is probably untrue."

Steve tensed. In his excitement to see Clara, he hadn't considered the possibility of a ruse. He had just been so happy to see her that he didn't suspect anything to the contrary. If it were an enemy, though, he wondered how they would know anything about Clara. He had only ever stopped at her grave when he was in England that one time. Thinking back on it, Steve wasn't even certain that he had checked to make sure he was alone. The woman he thought was Clara had been wearing the dog tags he left on her grave. It would have been easy to just pick up the tags, but if someone had learned of Clara, would they really have been able to get someone who looked, sounded, and smelled like her?

"And who would they actually be?" Steve asked to keep his thoughts from going down a panicked spiral to hysteria.

"That's my cue," said the blonde woman, "I'm Kate Lethbridge-Stewart with UNIT, I guess we're your SHIELD equivalent. The man in question is an alien who calls himself The Doctor, he's officially under the employment of UNIT, though he's really more of a freelancer. The woman he was with, brunette, round face, right?"

Steve nodded. "Oh good, I've wanted to ask about her, she's Clara Oswald, the Doctor's taken quite a liking to her. Our records indicate he's been chasing after her for some time now. She's something of an anomaly in that 12 different versions of her exist, but that's for another time," the woman went on, adding the last part for Steve's benefit since he was starting to look a little pale.

"I'd say they're exactly who they say they are then," Steve announced. The woman was Clara. The real question was if she was his Clara. Steve's life really was too weird if he had to think that sentence in conjunction to the fact that there were apparently 12 Clara Oswalds. He winced mentally.

Natasha looked a little surprised at that, Lethbridge-Stewart was wincing in sympathy. Probably because of his facial expression. Fury chose to stay stoic.

"In any case, The Doctor may be on our side, but he is a very dangerous man, Captain. I suggest you find out what he wants and stay away," Fury cautioned.

"Dangerous?" Steve questioned, "what does he do?"

"He's basically a legend. He has the ability to travel through time and go anywhere in the universe thanks to technology from his planet. Anywhere he goes, he tends to cause trouble, don't get me wrong, he means well, but it doesn't always end up the way he hopes. He's had many companions, people like Clara who travel with him to see the stars, but I've heard of very few who leave him for a safe and happy life," Kate informed him.

Steve took a moment to process that. Then he took another moment to try and make that knowledge actually stick in his mind. "Safe and happy? So, the others, what has happened to them?"

Kate sighed. "Only he can tell you everything, but as far as we know they could end up trapped in another time, some lose their memory, others can't move on and spend their lives searching for him or making reckless decisions, some get stuck in alternate dimensions, some end up victim to The Doctor's enemies, others have died foe him or otherwise."

"I see," Steve replied. He looked down for a moment, thinking. He didn't want any of those things to happen Clara. Not after he's found her again, but it sounded like something already did. Kate had said there were 12 versions of Clara running around. Had he met a version of her? Someone who looked like her and acted like her, but wasn't the original Clara. Did he know her at all? Steve didn't want to think about that being true. He loved her, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to handle having something so close to his expectation of her and have it not be true. It wouldn't be fair to Clara to always expect someone else's behavior.

"Thank you," Steve told them, "is that all?"

When they both nodded, Steve said his goodbyes and left. He had a possible ghost to get back to.

* * *

Steve made his way back to the room slowly. He had a lot to process before he got there, and he had to work out something to say to Clara if what he thought was true.

Upon reaching the hallway, he saw that everyone was still there. Sam was conversing quietly with The Doctor by the room, and Clara was nervously pacing the walkway between the police box and the room. She seemed to be working out some sort of speech for Steve. If the way she kept back tracking was anything to go by, she was also sorely failing. Steve walked up to them and nodded at Sam to to give them some space. Sam, bless him for understanding, only nodded back before practically dragging The Doctor out of the hallway. Clara was staring at Steve now. He couldn't help but notice how nervous she looked. He gestured to the room to give them some more privacy and shut the door when she entered.

"So what happened?" Clara asked conversationally, trying to dispel the tension in the room.

Steve shrugged, forcing himself to remain casual. "Oh the usual. Possible alien encounters," he said. Mentally he patted himself on the back for saying f that like they were talking about the weather this morning.

Clara winced. "About that," she started.

Steve held up his hand. "I already know about The Doctor, and what you two do. It's fine, I think I understand the appeal," he told her.

Just like that, Clara deflated. "Oh thank God," she said,slumping her shoulders and leaning into him.

"I would like to know how you're here now, though, I was told you died in the Blitz," Steve continued.

"Going straight for the hard one, I see," she replied.

Steve grinned, "you know me. Can't keep my mouth shut."

Clara laughed, and wrapped her arms around him again. "It's kind of complicated. There was this man, an enemy of The Doctor's who decided to strike back at him by stepping into The Doctor's time stream. He scattered himself everywhere in The Doctor's time line by doing so, and was killing The Doctor at different points in The Doctor's life. To save him, I stepped into his time line and stopped the man from killing The Doctor," Clara explained. "The Doctor saved me before I could get lost in the stream, but now there are echoes of me throughout his life, existing only to save him."

"So my Clara is one of your echoes?" Steve asked her. When she nodded, he let out a breathe he didn't know he had been holding. "How close were those echoes to you? Do you know?" He asked her.

Clara shrugged. "They were all me, all my personality and everything else, I think. I'm almost certain the only changes were the ones brought by the time line and some personal experiences. Other than that, it's me."

"The Clara I knew, I don't expect you to be her, if that's the kind of thing you're looking for. I'm not even expecting anything else, I'm just happy to see you again and know you're happy. I don't know much about The Doctor, but it sounds to me like you care for him quite a lot," he told her quietly.

Clara leaned into him more, hugged him tighter. "I remember that life, Steve, and I remember how you always made me feel. The thing I'm doing with The Doctor, it's temporary, an every Wednesday kind of thing. You promised me a forever, and I'm holding you to it," Clara replied.

Steve found that he could only smile brightly and finally return Clara' s hug.

 _Note: I have one more chapter written out, and then I'll either end it, or I'll move on to others meeting the happy couple. Just know up next is the problems of spontaneous relationships when they both live such strange lives. Also, sorry if you got a double alert, my formatting didn't stick so I replaced the chapter._


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this took so long. I lost my internet connection because the system I use decided it didn't like me, and then my uncle was put in the ICU, so delay and an un-beta'd chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing! :D**

Chapter 3

Eventually, The Doctor came charging back into the room Steve and Clara had moved over to the couch and were now sitting with a respectable distance between them, trading stories of their adventures. Their hands were firmly clasped, and they seemed to be taking turns tracing patterns on each other's hands while they talked. Steve was currently laughing at something Clara was saying, The Doctor thought he heard the word soufflé.

"Sorry to interrupt," The Doctor told them, going for his most apologetic tone. "The time Clara usually wants to be home passed two hours ago, and I figure if I wait any longer, she'll be upset."

Clara frowned and checked the time on the watch she usually kept on her left wrist. "Oh, so it seems," she said, sounding thoroughly put out. She turned to Steve and smiled at him. "I really do need to go now" she told him.

Steve sighed, but returned her smile and stood up from the couch before helping her up. "You have my number, right?" He asked Clara as the woman in question got up. Clara nodded in reply and kissed the Captain's cheek in farewell.

"I'll talk to you soon," she promised as she walked over to The Doctor.

Steve turned to nod at The Doctor while Clara made her way over to the TARDIS. "Thank you. For everything," he said seriously.

The Doctor gave him a genuine smile. "I'm always here to help," the alien replied.

With that, they both hopped onto the TARDIS and left with the faint echo of grinding sounding resolutely around the room. Steve's gaze lingered on the spot the blue box had been before shaking his head in wonder and walking back inside the room. He should go back to searching for Bucky, really he should, but as Steve passed the couch and smelled the still lingering perfume Clara wore, he found he wouldn't mind finishing that interrupted nap he had started. Steve made his way back to the bed, laying back down, and preparing himself for some much desired rest. What he got instead was a slight dip of the bed as Sam sat on the bed next to him.

"So, when did you get a secret girlfriend?" Sam started conversationally.

Steve groaned and rolled over to face his friend.

"Not my girlfriend," he grumbled. It was true, as well. Technically Clara was more.

"Yeah? Could have fooled me," Sam replied, good-naturedly.

"Good," Steve said, "'cause she's my fiancé."

In front of him, Steve heard the sounds of Sam sputtering indignantly. "What the hell man!?" Sam nearly shouted, "you don't just spring that news on people!"

Steve adopted his 'Aw shucks' expression. "Didn't know how else to bring it up," he said innocently.

Sam shook his head and grinned at Steve, "well congratulations, man, when's the ceremony?"

"You're not upset?" Steve questioned, sitting up.

"Not gonna lie, I'm kind of offended, but I think I can see why you would keep something like this a secret," Sam admitted.

Steve was sure his smile was goofy. He was so thankful to have someone like Sam in his life. Steve owed Sam so much for sticking by him this whole time.

"Thanks, Sam. I really appreciate it," Steve told him honestly. "As for your question...I honestly don't know. We never set anything in stone, we were saving it for a time when we could actually sit down and calmly plan together."

"If that's what you want to do, man, that's your thing. Word of advice, though, I've seen and heard the kind of lives you both live. There may not be a time when you can both settle down together. Take your time, wait for when you think is right, but don't keep her waiting too long."

It made sense, what Sam was saying. Steve didn't know much about their plans, but he knew it was something they needed to talk about. He would have to keep it in mind while planning with Clara.

"Okay," he told Sam, "now, enough talk, I want to go back to sleep."

With that done, they both settled back down underneath the blankets to get some more rest.

Clara was excited and confused. On one hand she had a totally hot, sweet, and caring boyfriend from a past life she sort of maybe remembers living. On the other hand, said boyfriend was totally willing to continue their relationship from a new perspective and share her real life with her. Plus, he was Captain America. The literal symbol of good ol' American standards, and a symbol of freedom, plus a national icon. But, boyfriend. Soldier boyfriend. Her Gran so wasn't allowed to complain about Clara's single status during Christmas dinner.

Speaking of her Gran, Clara frowned as she stepped into her family's estate home. She had moved back in after her brief stint as a nanny had ended, and all of her belongings were still stuffed inside her Gran's room until she could find an apartment to move into. Clara was working on finding a job, but she was still at a lost. She knew she wanted it to be something with kids.

She loved children, she was also apparently very good with them, and Clara knew she wanted something within her comfort zone right now. Enough of her life was crazy with The Doctor around, there was no need to add any more stress. So far, Clara only worked the odd baby-sitting job, and was looking into teaching. She had a degree in English that she wanted to put to some good use, although how that would happen was still lost on her.

Clara stepped into her shared bedroom and dug her phone out of her pocket in order to charge it. It had apparently died sometime between Trenzalore and Steve, and Clara wanted to make sure she entered the Captain's number on her phone before she managed to lose the slip of paper. Upon turning on, the device chirped once, signaling the arrival of an e-mail. She checked it, hoping for a reply from her latest job application, a teaching position at the local middle school. It ended up being nothing but spam, and Clara sighed.

She had at least hoped for another job to become available in time for Christmas, a month away now. Just as the thought passed through her head, Clara heard a faint ringing coming from her phone. The frown dropped from her face immediately, replaced by a bright grin as she noted the unknown number. She answered, fully prepared to greet Steve. Instead, it was the middle school, telling her she got the teaching job. Clara grinned to herself, not being able to help it, things were finally starting to really look up for her.

Steve, on the other hand, was bringing on the angst fest, as Natasha so helpfully called it.

He had woken up half an hour ago, having slept the day away, to come to the sudden realization that he had no idea what he was doing, and that Clara had not yet called him.

Really, it could only go downhill from there.

"What am I even doing?" he muttered, pacing around the Avenger's communal floor, ranting to the slightly amused Sam and Natasha. "I don't even know if she still wants to get married, no idea if there are other men her echos loved, I don't know her favorite color, whether she likes roses or chrysanthemums, or no flowers at all, if she prefers dancing or not, does she even still like to bake!?"

"Dude, didn't you say this is just as new for her as it is for you?" Sam asked from his spot at the far corner of the couch, looking up from the Winter Soldier case files he had been studying.

"Not the point," Steve muttered, continuing to pace back and forth.

"Then what is the point, Rogers? I've never seen you this nervous," Natasha commented idly. She was doing something on her Starkpad, looking like she didn't care much for what happened around her.

"The point is, she said she remembered the past life she lived with me. She still knows me, Nat, I don't know her."

"I don't know if I would say that."

"Why? You know something I don't?"

"As a matter of fact," Natasha declared, holding up her Starkpad, "I do."

On the screen of the tablet was a Torchwood file. Looking closely, Steve realized it was Clara's file. "Torchwood keeps an extensive file on all known associates of The Doctor, your girlfriend's travel companion, which means they have a file on her. All 12 of her," Nat said matter-of-fact.

She put the tablet back on her lap and moved through the file. "'All 12 known versions of Clara Oswin Oswald, while from different time periods, exhibit the same behavior and ideals. Further analysis shows that they behave the same and with the same purpose. It is highly likely they are all the same person'," Natasha read aloud. "You have nothing to worry about, Steve."

Steve finally stopped pacing, considering that information. Natasha was right, of course she was, but that didn't stop Steve from worrying. He had really loved Clara, and losing her had utterly wrecked Steve. Steve wasn't sure if he would be able to live with himself if he messed this up, assumed things that were no longer true, or drove Clara away by clinging to the girl he thought she was. Logically, he knew that it would be harder than that to lose her, but Steve couldn't stop himself from worrying over it.

A shrill ring coming from Steve's pocket caused Steve to momentarily stop his thoughts as he pulled it out, smiling when he noticed it was an unknown number from Britain.

"Hello," Steve answered, grinning.

"Steve!" Clara's voice greeted from the other end. "Sorry for the long wait, I had to go to a couple of meetings to prepare for the new school year."

She sounded excited, Steve thought. "School year? You got the teaching job?" he said instead, remembering her mentioning looking for work when they had been catching up.

"Yeah, they called me not long after I got home yesterday," Clara told him. The excitement was still clear in her voice.

"That's great news!" Steve told her honestly. Clara had always had a way with children that had made her a preferable choice when looking after children. Steve suspected it was also the reason he had always felt so relaxed and at home around her. She knew exactly how to act in order to get people to listen to her and calm down, and how to change her style in order to adapt to different children. Steve always thought she would make a great mother.

"I know," Clara was telling him as he had been thinking, "the semester doesn't start for another month, but I need to get started on my modules right away. I just wanted to talk to you first. I know we haven't really talked about what were going to do."

"Yeah, I was just thinking about that," Steve told her. Natasha rolled her eyes and mouthed "yeah right" at Steve. Steve felt the need to stick his tongue out at her, and only just restrained himself. Instead, he made a face and turned away to continue his conversation in private.

"Do you want to talk about this now?" He asked Clara.

"It would be better to do it in person," Clara responded.

Steve nodded, suspecting as much. "I could fly over there?" he offered, "there are a couple leads on my case already in Britain."

On the other end of the phone, Clara paused, considering. "You don't have to Steve, we could do a video call?" she suggested finally.

Steve shrugged. "If your comfortable with that, we could. It really isn't a problem to travel. I'll have to do it eventually," he said, trying to keep his voice casual so he didn't push.

"How about I ask The Doctor to take me over next time he visits, and you save your trip for Christmas? I know it's early, but we usually have family dinner, and I would like for you to be there."

"Christmas sounds great," Steve said, not even trying to resist the dumb smile settling on his face. "It's a date then," he let slip without thinking.

"It's a date," Clara agreed, and Steve just knew from her tone of voice that she was smiling just as big as he was.


	4. Date Night

**Disclaimer: I do not own**

Chapter 4

The date, for all the stressing and obnoxious panicking following it, was actually not that bad. Really, it wasn't. Not at all. Nope. Nothing awkward happened at all.

He hopes.

Steve is screwed.

Actually, he spent the whole date fumbling for the right thing to say to her. Steve isn't even sure how that ended up happening. The last time he talked to her, when they were first reunited, conversation came easily, and they were talking like old friends finally meeting again after a few years had passed. Steve would just like to point out that from a certain perspective, that is the truth in their relationship. The date started out like that, he met her in front of Avengers tower, dressed in his best "I-am-not-Captain-America-but-this-is-an-important-date" outfit. He took her to a "low-key fancy" restaurant, as Natasha called it, it was fancy enough that Steve needed to place a reservation, but not enough that they would have to be full-on dressy for dinner. It was the kind of place Steve would have been scrounging up every penny he could had this happened Before. When they were seated (in a booth, clear view of the window and near at least two quick escape routes) they had sat down and made light conversation. Steve asked about the school, Clara tentatively asked about his case. Steve hadn't told her much about the search for Bucky. It wasn't that he didn't trust her with the information, but Steve didn't know how he could possibly go about explaining it all, and a part of him was still stuck on the depressing thought that Bucky wouldn't recover into someone who could be trusted around civilians.

It was around the time dessert came that things got a little awkward. It started out innocently enough, some guy in a table behind them made a very loud remark about how war propaganda made exposure to combat more negative. Clara had absent-mindedly agreed with the man, adding in her own two cents when she went on to talk about how much it made "reckless young men try their hardest to get killed for glory". And yeah- ouch, but at the same time Steve understood what she was talking about. He had seen it first hand in the eyes of star-struck soldiers (both in the past and now) talking about how he or the Howling Commandos had been a huge inspiration to them. He totally understood. Doesn't mean it didn't put him a little on the defensive to hear Clara say it so completely matter-of-fact, like there was some unspoken law stating that soldiers only give up their lives for the glory of battle.

So, Steve did what he does best. He shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat to kindly direct attention to the elephant that stomped itself into the room.

To her credit, Clara immediately gets a look of panic on her face as she scrambles to recover.

"Not that what you did is inherently negative, or anything like that, just what you represented...to soldiers.. No, I didn't mean it like that either, I was just trying to-"

It's at that point, she is shushed by Steve, who tries to smile reassuringly. "It's fine, Clara, I understand."

She sighs in relief. "Oh, thank God. Sorry, I guess I'm just a little nervous? Every time I get nervous, I just start rambling, and I can't shut up." At this, she gives a little shrug and half-smile. Then, visibly restraining herself, she looks down at her plate to start eating again. "And there I go again, continuing to talk. I'm sorry. Again."

Steve laughs and reaches forward to pat her hand. "Like I said, it's fine. No offense taken," he reaffirms, which isn't exactly true, yes, but he doesn't want her to feel uncomfortable. The history of their relationship makes this weird enough as it is, without addressing the whole "Captain America: Super Popsicle" side of his life. Not for the first date, at least.

Clara nods, relaxing once more, he is happy to find. They start to get back into their conversation once more, and Steve is recounting one of the times Sam and He had gotten confused while on the hunt for Bucky, and ended up ordering a pile of muffins for lunch at their hotel. Clara is gently teasing him, smile on her face, when Steve hears a camera shutter go off somewhere to his left. His head snaps around, and he looks out the window trying to find the photo-taker, but finds no one.

"Steve?" Clara asks, looking out the window as well to find whatever made him react so strongly. She gives his hand a light squeeze, and Steve looks down at the table, startled to find that he had never let go of Clara's hand after he had tried to reassure her. He squeezes her hand back gently.

"I believe we've just been caught," he tries to say casually. He's pretty sure he failed. Steve's stomach is roiling around nauseously, and he can feel himself frowning. He hadn't wanted Clara to be in the limelight because of who she dated. He had become uncomfortably aware of just how much spotlight the media placed on its' celebrities, and everyone affiliated with them, and had foolishly hoped that he could continue to keep their relationship a secret if they rekindled. At the very least, he had hoped he would be able to keep it hidden for longer than this.

"I'm sorry," He tells Clara sincerely, "I don't know how much you wanted people to know about you, but there's sure to be quite a lot of snooping now."

Steve feels absolutely horrible now, and it must show on his face, because Clara is now smiling reassuringly at him, trying to placate him. "It's okay, Steve," she tells him, "I was honestly considering this as a possibility already, and I may have taken some liberties. The only thing those reporters will find is my basic information and where I work. I'm perfectly fine with that being released. The rest, well, will figure that out as the time comes."

Her words lessen some of his guilt, and he smiles at her gratefully. "Right. As the time comes," he repeats, trying to convince himself. Maybe if he says it enough times, he'll believe it.

"Great. Since that's settled: Take me home, Soldier," Clara commands, getting out of her chair. Steve takes out his wallet, and places what should be a more than adequate amount of money on the table before he follows her up. Together, they walk to the front, retrieving coats at the door, before they step out into the chilly New York air. As they walk, Steve pulls Clara close and wraps his arm around her waist under the pretense of keeping her warm. Clara smirks and leans into his warmth, but otherwise doesn't comment.

"So, where am I dropping you off?" Steve questions. Currently, they're heading in the vague direction of Stark Tower, but Steve suspects they'll have to go and find the TARDIS. Clara makes a thoughtful sound, beating a meaningless pattern against Steve's hip, where she's returned his grip.

"The Doctor's most likely still by the Tower. Hopefully. He's quite restless," she finally decides.

Steve frowns, but accepts the answer. The only things he knows about The Doctor, are of what Clara's told him so far. She trusts him, though, and it seems like she's had no reason not to, what stories she has shared all proved that The Doctor has come to the rescue for her multiple times, and is not likely to go off and leave her to fend for herself. That, and Stark Tower does seem like the most likely choice since that's where they met.

He adjusts his route, and within a couple of minutes, Stark Tower is in his view. "Here we are," he announces when they reach the edge of the building. They stop walking and Clara turns slightly so that she is now face-to-face with Steve, both arms on his hips, and one of Steve's arms still around hers. Clara's grinning at him, as Steve's other arm joins the first around her waist, and Steve swears he feels his heart stutter just looking at her.

"Thank you, for the dinner and the wonderful time," Clara tells him, leaning in for a hug.

Steve immediately complies. "Anything to impress my best girl," he whispers into her hair.

It's something he used to tell her at the end of every single date. A tradition he had kept up until the last time he saw her, and something about being able to say it again makes his chest bubble with euphoria. For that single moment, everything else disappears and he had the love of his life back in his arms, alive and well, and telling her something from the past that she would understand because _she had been there, and she remembers this little piece of normalcy_ , and Steve feels more whole than he has since a solitary train rushed through the Alps. He wants to extend that moment into it's own infinite loop, so a part of him never has to leave this comfort, but just like that, it's over, and Clara is pulling back. The beautiful smile is still on her face, and her eyes are twinkling as she leans up and kisses his cheek, whispering a soft goodbye against his cheek. Then, she's walking passed the Tower, towards the alleyway where the TARDIS should be waiting and Steve calls out his own soft goodbye as he watches her leave.

Not a failure then, he hopes.

Shaking his head ruefully, Steve turns and heads inside the Tower, he's got a media storm to face tomorrow.

 _Author's Note: So, I tried to make this a little awkward, because I had re-watched the Danny Pink date night episode, and realized that would pretty much be the way Clara acts around the soldier, given The Doctor's influence. This came out instead. sorrynotsorry. Thank you for reading, I should be churning out another chapter soon since this one was so short ;)_


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